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CHAPTER 15

Reign of Azariah of Judah.1In the twenty-seventh year* of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Azariah, son of Amaziah, king of Judah, became king.
2He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah, from Jerusalem.

3He did what was right in the LORD’s sight, just as his father Amaziah had done,
4though the high places did not disappear, and the people continued to sacrifice and to burn incense on the high places.
5The LORD afflicted the king, and he was a leper until the day he died. He lived in a house apart, while Jotham, the king’s son, was master of the palace and ruled the people of the land.*

6The rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
7Azariah rested with his ancestors, and was buried with them in the City of David, and his son Jotham succeeded him as king.

Reign of Zechariah of Israel.8In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Zechariah, son of Jeroboam, became king over Israel in Samaria for six months.

9He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, as his ancestors had done, and did not desist from the sins that Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit.
10Shallum, son of Jabesh, plotted against him and struck him down at Ibleam. He killed him and reigned in his place.

11As for the rest of the acts of Zechariah, these are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
12This was the word the LORD had spoken to Jehu: Sons of your line to the fourth generation shall sit upon the throne of Israel; and so it was.a

Reign of Shallum of Israel.13Shallum, son of Jabesh, became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah, king of Judah; he reigned one month in Samaria.

14Menahem, son of Gadi, came up from Tirzah to Samaria, and struck down Shallum, son of Jabesh, in Samaria. He killed him and reigned in his place.

15As for the rest of the acts of Shallum, with the conspiracy he carried out, these are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
16At that time, Menahem attacked Tappuah, all its inhabitants, and its whole district as far as Tirzah, because they did not let him in. He attacked them; he even ripped open all their pregnant women.

Reign of Menahem of Israel.17In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Menahem, son of Gadi, became king over Israel for ten years in Samaria.
18He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight as long as he lived, not desisting from the sins that Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit.
19Pul,* king of Assyria, came against the land. But Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver to have his help in holding onto his kingdom.
20Menahem paid out silver on behalf of Israel, that is, for all the people of substance, by giving the king of Assyria fifty shekels of silver for each one. So the king of Assyria went home and did not stay in the land.

21The rest of the acts of Menahem, with all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
22Menahem rested with his ancestors, and his son Pekahiah succeeded him as king.

Reign of Pekahiah of Israel.23In the fiftieth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekahiah, son of Menahem, became king over Israel in Samaria for two years.

24He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, not desisting from the sins that Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit.
25His adjutant Pekah, son of Remaliah, conspired against him, and struck him down at Samaria within the palace stronghold; he had with him fifty men from Gilead. He killed him and reigned in his place.
26As for the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, with all that he did, these are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

Reign of Pekah of Israel.27* In the fifty-second year of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekah, son of Remaliah, became king over Israel in Samaria for twenty years.

28He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, not desisting from the sins that Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit.
29In the days of Pekah, king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came and took Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee—all the land of Naphtali—deporting the inhabitants to Assyria.
30* Hoshea, son of Elah, carried out a conspiracy against Pekah, son of Remaliah; he struck and killed him, and succeeded him as king in the twentieth year of Jotham, son of Uzziah.

31As for the rest of the acts of Pekah, with all that he did, these are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

Reign of Jotham of Judah.32In the second year of Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, became king.
33He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha, daughter of Zadok.

34He did what was right in the LORD’s sight, just as his father Uzziah had done,
35though the high places did not disappear, and the people continued to sacrifice and to burn incense on the high places. It was he who built the Upper Gate* of the LORD’s house.

36The rest of the acts of Jotham, with what he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
37It was at that time that the LORD began to unleash Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, against Judah.b38Jotham rested with his ancestors; he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David his father, and his son Ahaz succeeded him as king.

* [15:27] The twenty years here ascribed to Pekah are difficult to reconcile with other chronological notices about the kings. One theory would see Pekah and Menahem as rival kings over parts of a divided Israelite territory; this could explain Menahem’s concern for Assyrian support (vv. 19–20) and Assyria’s attack on Pekah (v. 29). See 16:1 and note on 14:1–2.

* [15:30] The twenty years here reckoned to Jotham of Judah may include his co-regency with Azariah (v. 5); otherwise they are impossible to reconcile with v. 33, which ascribes him only sixteen years. The verse also appears to contradict 16:1, which has Jotham’s son and successor, Ahaz, coming to the throne while Pekah still reigns in Israel, and 17:1, which dates Hoshea’s accession to the throne to the twelfth year of Ahaz.

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